This film is one fun, wild ride that takes you to a secret island. Once the main characters are in place, Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts (The Kings of Summer) has them spring into action fighting or being chased by enormous monsters from another age. But Kong is the center of it all. Is it scary and sometimes gory? Yes. Will these monsters scare the kids? Maybe. But despite all the carnage, it’s well played with just the right amount of comic relief. Dan Gilroy (Night Crawler, Real Steel), Max Borenstein, and Derek Connolly wrote a smart script.

This movie earns every bit of it’s R rating for non-stop blood and gore. This is Writer/Director James Mangold’s Grand Finale of the Wolverine series, and it feels like a Marvel take of a very graphically violent Gunfight at the OK Corral. Hugh Jackman gives his all playing the beast with blades after living in this character for the past 17 years. Logan is so different in this installment, but it may be his most memorable portrayal.

Ever go to a wedding and sit at a table where you know no one? It’s uncomfortable and so is this film. It has a great cast who play quirky characters. They’re all invited to a wedding, not because the bride and groom want them there, but because they have some connection to the happy couple. You learn what those connections are a little at a time as each reveals their story.

This film is billed as a horror film, but it’s much more than that. There are lots of layers, including racial commentary. For those out there who thought we might have entered a post racial society with the election of a Black President, this movie acknowledges that falsehood with both humor and sarcasm.